Pc Building Simulator

# Pc Building Simulator with Intel Core Ultra 5 235 + Intel Arc B570: Benchmark Analysis

Pc Building Simulator, a Simulation title released in early 2019, presents an unusual workload profile that stresses both CPU and GPU in ways that differ from typical action games. This analysis pairs the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 (14 cores, 14 threads, Arrow Lake architecture) with the Intel Arc B570 (Xe2-HPG, Battlemage generation) across four resolutions and four quality settings. The measured data reveals a system that scales predictably with resolution, but the interplay between the 14-thread CPU and the 10 GB GPU creates distinct bottlenecks depending on where the workload lands.

Resolution Scaling

The FPS degradation from 1080p to 4K follows a clear pattern that identifies the GPU as the primary scaling factor. At 1080p High, the combo produces 96 FPS; moving to 1440p High drops that to 61 FPS (a 36% reduction), and 4K High falls to 32 FPS (a 67% reduction from 1080p). This steep slope suggests that pixel throughput becomes the dominant constraint as resolution climbs, which aligns with the Arc B570's 200.0 GPixel/s pixel rate and 380.0 GB/s memory bandwidth.

At Low settings, the scaling curve is less severe but still GPU-bound. The 1080p Low result of 192 FPS drops to 121 FPS at 1440p (37% lower) and 63 FPS at 4K (67% lower). The consistency of these percentage drops across quality presets indicates that resolution scaling is largely independent of graphical complexity in this title — the GPU's raw fill rate and bandwidth dictate the ceiling, not the specific shading workload. The Arc B570's 80 ROPs and 144 TMUs provide the architecture for this behavior, though the 160-bit memory bus (10 GB GDDR6) may contribute to the sharp decline at 4K.

Medium settings show the most complete data, with min/max FPS recorded at all resolutions. At 1080p Medium, the average is 136 FPS with a range of 115–156 FPS. The 1440p Medium average is 86 FPS (73–99 FPS), and 4K Medium lands at 45 FPS (38–52 FPS). The frame time consistency, as indicated by the min-to-max spread, degrades proportionally with resolution — at 1080p the spread is 41 FPS, at 1440p it's 26 FPS, and at 4K it's 14 FPS. This narrowing range at higher resolutions suggests that frame pacing becomes more uniform when the GPU is fully saturated, while at lower resolutions CPU-side irregularities introduce more variance.

Ultra settings produce the lowest overall scores: 91 FPS at 1080p, 58 FPS at 1440p, and 30 FPS at 4K. The 4K Ultra result of exactly 30 FPS is notable as it sits right at the edge of playability, indicating that this combination reaches its practical limit at that configuration. The data suggests that 1440p is the sweet spot for this pairing — the 4K results all fall below 63 FPS even at Low, while 1080p results exceed 90 FPS at every preset except the most demanding.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 5 235 brings 14 cores and 14 threads (no hyperthreading) with a base clock of 3.40 GHz and a boost of 5.00 GHz. This configuration, built on Arrow Lake-S architecture using a 3 nm TSMC process, delivers strong single-thread performance — evidenced by a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 2085 — which is critical for a simulation title where game logic and component interactions often run on fewer threads.

In the context of Pc Building Simulator, the CPU's multi-threaded capability (Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 14769) suggests ample headroom for background simulation tasks. The 24 MB shared L3 cache and 192 KB per-core L1 cache provide the data locality needed for the game's inventory and physics calculations. The PassMark multi-thread score of 37816 and single-thread score of 4516 both place this CPU in the 89th percentile versus all CPUs, indicating it comfortably handles the non-rendering workload.

However, the benchmark results reveal that the CPU is not the primary limiter at most settings. At 1080p Low (192 FPS), the system may begin to approach CPU-bound territory, but the absence of min/max data at that setting makes it difficult to assess frame pacing. The 1080p Medium min of 115 FPS versus the 136 FPS average suggests some frame time spikes, which could stem from the CPU's 14-thread design handling the game's simulation threads unevenly. The CPU's 65 W TDP and dual-channel DDR5 memory support (102.4 GB/s bandwidth) provide a balanced platform, but the data shows the GPU saturates before the CPU in most configurations.

The nearest CPU rivals — the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (0.1% higher average score), Intel Core i9-13900HX (0.1% lower), and AMD EPYC 4364P (0.2% higher) — all sit within a 0.3% band, indicating that the Ultra 5 235's compute positioning is highly competitive for this workload. The PassMark physics score of 2570 and data compression score of 390711 further support the CPU's capability in simulation-heavy scenarios, though these figures do not directly translate to gaming FPS.

How This Combo Ranks

This specific CPU-GPU pairing ranks 2402 out of 3002 tested combos in Pc Building Simulator, placing it in the 20th percentile overall. This rank reflects the Arc B570's position as a mid-range GPU rather than a performance deficit in the CPU — the GPU's 65th percentile versus all GPUs (average benchmark score 20556) drags the combo down relative to pairings with higher-tier graphics cards.

The GPU's nearest rivals include the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Mobile (0.1% higher average score), Intel Arc A750 (0.1% lower), and AMD Radeon R9 M390X (0.5% lower). This clustering around the 20500–20600 score range indicates that the Arc B570 performs at a level comparable to last-generation mid-high GPUs, which aligns with its 4K results hovering near 30 FPS at Ultra. The CPU's 89th percentile ranking does not boost the combo beyond the GPU's ceiling — in Pc Building Simulator, the graphics card determines the overall rank more heavily, as evidenced by the 4K results where even the capable CPU cannot compensate for the GPU's 11.52 TFLOPS FP32 throughput.

The rank of 2402 out of 3002 means that 600 combinations perform worse and 2401 perform better, placing this setup in the lower third of tested configurations. For a game that is not graphically intensive by modern standards, this rank is lower than the GPU's individual percentile might suggest, implying that Pc Building Simulator's rendering path favors GPUs with higher memory bandwidth (the Arc B570's 380.0 GB/s is moderate) or larger VRAM pools (10 GB is adequate but not generous for 4K textures).

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the system delivers playable frame rates across all settings. The Low preset yields 192 FPS average, which drops to 136 FPS at Medium (with a 115–156 FPS range), 96 FPS at High, and 91 FPS at Ultra. The gap between High and Ultra is a modest 5 FPS, suggesting diminishing returns from the additional graphical features at that tier. The 1080p results indicate that this resolution is well within the combo's capability, with even Ultra settings maintaining over 90 FPS.

Moving to 2560x1440, the averages fall to 121 FPS (Low), 86 FPS (Medium, 73–99 FPS range), 61 FPS (High), and 58 FPS (Ultra). The Medium settings show the largest absolute drop from 1080p (50 FPS), while the High and Ultra presets drop by 35 and 33 FPS respectively. This pattern suggests that the GPU's shading units (2304) and texture units (144) are being pushed harder at 1440p, but the 10 GB VRAM remains sufficient — no texture thrashing is evident in the data.

At 3840x2160, the system struggles to maintain 60 FPS at any setting. Low produces 63 FPS, Medium drops to 45 FPS (38–52 FPS), High falls to 32 FPS, and Ultra bottoms out at 30 FPS. The 4K Low result of 63 FPS is the only playable 4K configuration, and even that requires significant quality reductions. The 10 GB VRAM and 160-bit memory bus likely contribute to this limitation, as 4K textures and higher resolutions demand more memory bandwidth than the 380.0 GB/s can provide for sustained high frame rates.

The Medium settings across all resolutions provide the most complete picture: 136/86/45 FPS at 1080p/1440p/4K, with min/max spreads of 41/26/14 FPS respectively. The narrowing spread at 4K indicates that the GPU is consistently saturated, whereas at 1080p the CPU introduces more variable frame times. For a simulation game where consistent frame pacing matters for UI responsiveness, this data suggests that Medium at 1440p offers the best balance of speed and stability.

GPU Role

The Intel Arc B570, built on the Xe2-HPG Battlemage architecture with a 5 nm TSMC process, provides the rendering horsepower for this combo. Its 2304 shading units, 144 TMUs, and 80 ROPs deliver 11.52 TFLOPS FP32 performance, with a boost clock of 2500 MHz. The 10 GB GDDR6 memory on a 160-bit bus provides 380.0 GB/s bandwidth, and the 18 RT cores handle any ray-traced effects (though Pc Building Simulator likely does not utilize them heavily).

The GPU's benchmark results show a mixed profile: PassMark G3D score of 14195 places it in the 65th percentile versus all GPUs, while Geekbench Vulkan (96844) and OpenCL (83514) scores indicate strong compute capability. The 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score of 2649 and PassMark DirectX 12 score of 72 suggest that the architecture performs better in some APIs than others, though the game's measured FPS indicates no API-specific issues.

In Pc Building Simulator, the GPU's role becomes increasingly dominant as resolution rises. At 1080p, the FPS differences between Low (192) and Ultra (91) — a 101 FPS spread — show how much headroom exists in the rendering pipeline. At 4K, that spread narrows to 33 FPS (63 Low vs 30 Ultra), indicating that the GPU's fill rate and memory bandwidth are the limiting factors rather than shader complexity. The 200.0 GPixel/s pixel rate and 360.0 GTexel/s texture rate are sufficient for 1080p and 1440p gaming but become inadequate at 4K with high settings.

The GPU's nearest rivals — RTX 3070 Mobile (0.1% faster) and Arc A750 (0.1% slower) — suggest that the B570 sits at a performance tier where 4K Ultra is borderline, but 1440p High is comfortable. The 150 W TDP and dual-slot design indicate a power-efficient card that does not require exotic cooling, and the PCIe 4.0 x8 interface provides adequate bandwidth for the 10 GB frame buffer.

Settings Recommendations

Based on the measured FPS data, the optimal configuration for this combo depends on the target resolution. At 1920x1080, all settings are playable, but Ultra (91 FPS) offers only a 5 FPS improvement over High (96 FPS) — wait, that's inverted. The data shows High at 96 FPS and Ultra at 91 FPS, meaning Ultra is actually 5 FPS slower with presumably higher visual quality. For 1080p, Medium (136 FPS) provides the best balance of speed and quality, with the 115 FPS minimum ensuring smooth gameplay even in complex scenes.

At 2560x1440, the High preset (61 FPS) is the highest setting that maintains a 60 FPS average, while Medium (86 FPS) provides additional headroom with a 73 FPS minimum. The Ultra preset (58 FPS) falls just short of 60 FPS, so High is the recommended choice for 1440p if a 60 FPS target is desired; Medium is preferable if frame pacing consistency matters more than absolute quality.

For 3840x2160, only the Low preset (63 FPS) achieves a playable average. Medium (45 FPS) and High (32 FPS) are sub-60, and Ultra (30 FPS) is only suitable for screenshot-oriented play. Given that Pc Building Simulator's UI and menus benefit from higher frame rates, 4K users should either accept Low settings or drop to 1440p with Medium or High for a better experience. The data does not support a recommendation for 4K Medium or above for sustained gameplay.

FAQ

Q: Can this combo run Pc Building Simulator at 4K with playable frame rates?

A: Only at Low settings, where it averages 63 FPS. Medium drops to 45 FPS, High to 32 FPS, and Ultra to 30 FPS, making those presets unsuitable for smooth gameplay at 4K.

Q: What is the best resolution to pair with this hardware?

A: The data indicates 2560x1440 with Medium settings (86 FPS average, 73 FPS minimum) or High settings (61 FPS) offers the best balance of visual quality and stability. 1080p provides significantly higher frame rates (136 FPS Medium), while 4K requires Low settings for playability.

Q: How does the Intel Core Ultra 5 235 compare to its nearest rivals?

A: The CPU's average benchmark score of 46062 places it within 0.2% of the AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 375 (46030), Intel Core i9-13900HX (46098), and AMD EPYC 4364P (45970). This puts it in the 89th percentile versus all CPUs.

Q: Is the GPU or CPU the bottleneck in this game?

A: Benchmark results show the GPU becomes the limiting factor as resolution increases. The FPS drops from 1080p to 4K are consistent across quality presets (roughly 67% lower at 4K regardless of settings), indicating GPU-bound scaling. The CPU's 89th percentile ranking provides sufficient headroom for the game's simulation logic.

Q: What is the frame time consistency like at different settings?

A: The only setting with complete min/max data is Medium. At 1080p, frames range from 115–156 FPS (41 FPS spread); at 1440p, 73–99 FPS (26 FPS spread); and at 4K, 38–52 FPS (14 FPS spread). The narrowing spread at higher resolutions indicates more consistent frame pacing when the GPU is fully utilized.

Q: How does this combo rank among all tested configurations?

A: It ranks 2402 out of 3002 combos tested in Pc Building Simulator, placing it in the bottom 20% of pairings. This rank is primarily driven by the GPU's 65th percentile performance, as the CPU's 89th percentile ranking does not compensate for the graphics card's mid-range capabilities.